I don’t know. Maybe when I had that drama with the bird netting and the broken wing I was judged to be totally guilty — hey, I was — and sentenced to a whole lot of avian-related community service. 

Look at this little guy. I found him in the garage, on the floor next to a massive pile of bird shit that indicates a nest just above. The Web site I checked tells me he is not quite two weeks old. He needs lots of protein, preferably mealworms,  chopped up. Ugh. I fed him chicken. He eats little tiny bites, not very many. The site tells me he’ll want more in half an hour. Is that 24/7? What about water? When does he start feeding himself?

His mom knows he’s there. I hope she’ll rescue him but the site tells me it’s not likely. So I have him in a tiny paper – lined plastic dish in a little box, still in the garage but I hope up where the cats won’t get him, though Jacques keeps them away pretty well. Advice welcomed.

I think I’ll do the before and after of the attic, if I’m not too distracted by this little addition to my household. Every 30 minutes is pretty frequent.

Update, four hours later: he’s gone. I fed him his chicken — much merriment from a friend who guffawed, you fed chicken to a bird??? — oops. Then I moved his little box atop a bigger box, the better to foil the cats. I went back after about an hour, thinking I’d switch him to high-protein soaked and mashed dog treats. He wouldn’t eat. Maybe he had indigestion but he looked pretty perky. I left the dog treats. An hour or so later he still wouldn’t eat but I could swear he had exchanged some pin feathers for the real deal. He looked a little belligerent. I thought well, if he has attitude, he may be okay. An hour later, no bird and no sign of mayhem. So either he was plucked from safety by a particularly sneaky owl or his mom got him back into the nest. I’m hoping for the latter.